Most wall-mount vanities require the installer to get “into” the wall cavity behind the drywall in order to install bracing or “cripples” between the wall studs. This is required given the weight load of the vanity plus the customer while using the vanity. The manner that the vanity is mounted must support 200 pound live load.
Wall-mount vanities represent a small part of the vanity category in the United Sates. However, wall-mount vanities are a much larger part of the vanity category in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Russia, etc. The type of home or wall construction in the aforementioned countries is overwhelmingly masonry. Accordingly, there is a solid surface through the entire interior or exterior wall which allows for wall-mount vanities that can be installed utilizing masonry anchors that the vanity manufacturers provide.
Construction standard in the United States require walls to be built with wood or steel studs. Most commonly, these studs are place at 16″ on center vertically with sheets of drywall screw fastened to the studs. This manner of construction results in open cavities between the studs behind the drywall. To date, most manufacturers of wall-mount vanities have not accounted for this and continue to build vanities with mounting accommodations (brackets or pre-drilled holes in the back of the vanity) that are not spaced according to 16″ on center stud spacing. Moreover, the spacing of any brackets or mounting apparatus is determined by the width of the vanity itself.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a mounting bracket or system that can be used to surface mount the vanity that accommodates the standard building practices in the United States and does not require the installer to get behind the drywall, that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages and provides lower costs, in terms of product unit cost and installation cost.